Rand Paul, RNC Chairman Headline N.H. GOP Unity Dinner

Paul will go to New Hampshire next month for a GOP event meant to showcase party unity. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Any time a senator heads to New Hampshire for a state party event, he or she sparks presidential buzz.

But Sen. Rand Paul’s scheduled visit to the Granite State next month reveals just as much about New Hampshire Republican politics as his own national ambitions.

The state GOP’s recent electoral history demonstrates a deep divide between the tea party and more established Republicans. But in May, Paul will co-headline a dinner with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, a partnership that’s intended show unity in the party, according to New Hampshire Republican Party Chairwoman Jennifer Horn.

“We believe that this dinner represents that diversity of thought in our party. And certainly here in New Hampshire we embrace that,” Horn said in a Wednesday interview with CQ Roll Call. “I wanted to send a strong message early on that the New Hampshire Republican Party is a growing … united organization.”

Donations for the May 20 dinner in Concord, N.H., range from $75 to $1,000. But Horn emphasized that the dinner is not about fundraising, but unity.

“It is something we hope will become an annual event moving forward,” she added.

Reince Priebus has some repenting to do for trashing the grassroots GOP in Tampa last year. If he is going to get out and work early with Rand Paul and get him some good exposure, that will help me take Priebus more seriously.